NEWS: JICMAIL Highly Commended at MRG Awards.

JICMAIL is pleased to announce it has been Highly Commended in the Best Trade Body Research category at the Media Research Awards 2018. This is a gratifying result for a new media currency against such strong competition as Thinkbox and Radiocentre.

JICMAIL is the culmination of several years of committed effort by a professional team to deliver objective and trusted audience and item data for all participants in the mail industry. The entry for this category outlined the challenges of recording mail exposure. Unlike other media, there is no reason to interact with mail other than to interact with mail so simply asking people how often they are exposed to mail fails to capture the full picture.

These challenges present methodological opportunities for JICMAIL. A rotating panel of over 1000 households a month completes a diary-based app in which they capture an image of every mail item they receive in a week, record what type of mail it is and who sent it, and then record exactly what they did with the item both immediately and over a 28 day period.

The list of physical interactions that can be recorded for mail items includes opening, reading, filing away and throwing away amongst many others. This rich picture of how mail is interacted with contributes to a calculation of frequency of exposure – a figure which, along with reach, can be analysed for multiple mail types and audiences.

JICMAIL has proven that mail items have a far greater impact than the “one” previously assumed. Direct Mail reaches 1.14 people per household on average – an additional reach of 14%, and has a frequency of exposure of 4.18 over a four-week period. Door Drops reach 1.04 people per household with a frequency of 2.77 on average.

Reach and frequency vary greatly by target audience and sector, but at the same time JICMAIL provides detailed planning information to support the case for mail throughout the purchase funnel, and through additional commercial actions tracked provides a far more rounded picture of not only exposure, but also mail response.

11% of mail prompts a call to an advertiser, visit to a website or store, or catalogue order; 8% of mail is used to make a purchase, use a voucher or discount, or to plan a large purchase; and 12% of mail is discussed with someone else

Furthermore, mail content analysis allows for data driven decision making in the creative process of a mail campaign. For example, while all vouchers might not be redeemed, we know that door drops which contain voucher codes are twice as likely to drive a store visit than those which do not.

Media questions to be sent to Tara Pickles, tara@jicmail.org.uk